The 23-year-old became the first male swimmer to win gold for Ireland last week when he was crowned the 800m freestyle champion in Paris.
He also went on to win bronze in the 1500m freestyle final five days later.
Wiffen made his open water swimming debut today and finished in a respectable 18th place in the 10km event through the River Seine.
But he’s issued a brutally honest verdict on how it went and said he’s already ‘retiring’ from this particular competition.
When asked how he felt after his first open water swim, Wiffen joked: ‘And last, and last.’
‘It’s one of the worst things I’ve ever done,’ he told RTE Sport.
‘But yeah, I’m happy I did it. Now I can say that I can range from 10k.
‘And I actually placed higher than I did in Tokyo in the pools so I’m pretty proud of myself.
‘But, you know, when you get to halfway, all I was thinking was “I am already an Olympic champion and I’m swimming this and I’m coming 18th…”
‘I was like, “oh I’ll just finish it now, but then I’m never doing it again”.’
Wiffen was also taken aback by the brutal nature of the open water swim and says he much prefers the less chaotic pool events after taking a few hits to the face.
‘All the coaches are laughing because I was swimming out by myself because I wasn’t arsed going behind somebody,’ he said.
‘All I was thinking was “yeah, I can’t be arsed to get kicked in the face”.
‘I got a couple of elbows in the eye and I got punched in the face at one point.
‘This sport isn’t for me I don’t think. I definitely want my own lane next time.’
Wiffen, who finished the race in just under two hours, said he even considered ‘pulling out’ beforehand but ‘wanted to do it because my friends are’.
‘I didn’t actually see any of them apart from my training partner Toby [Robinson] from GB,’ he joked.
‘My goal coming into this was to finish and I’m very pleased with myself and happy to say I didn’t come last, so that’s the main thing.
‘I’m so happy I’ve completed it and I’m retiring from open water.’
Reflecting on his incredible time at the Olympics, he added: ‘I couldn’t ask for anything more.
‘Becoming an Olympic champion ages ago now it seems, about a week-and-a-half ago, and then a bronze medal as well.
‘We don’t really have athletes winning any medals, so to come away with two… amazing.
‘I’m looking forward to the homecoming on Monday.’
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